October 21st , 2014

Non fiction blogs are easy. Whatever you want your book to be about, that’s what you blog about. Want to write a book about parenting? Blog about parenting. Want to write a book about traveling? Blog about traveling. Want to write a book about how to make homemade ninja weapons? Blog about making homemade ninja weapons.

This gives you the chance to share your voice with your potential audience at the same time that you are building that audience and establishing yourself as an expert on your chosen topic.

The formula is pretty simple, but what about fiction? The content and quality of your story takes center stage, but you are still expected to have an online presence, and that means a blog, among other things.

A blog means you need blog posts and that means…what exactly?

Blog posts for non fiction should line up with the book in question. Many times blog content becomes incorporated into any books that get written. So the bulk of the content is always pulling in one direction. The writing efforts are in sync. You don’t have to wrack your brain over what to post on your blog, then wrack your brain over what the next chapter in your novel is going to be.

It is this divided focus i have found to be a challenge to manage in the past. I had years of posts archived at the same time i was working on a novel, and then i just burned out. The posts stopped while the novel continued, and for anyone who has ever struggled to keep a blog fresh, you know how hard it is to get back on that horse after a lapse has occurred.

Doubly so for me since i still wasn’t sure what i would even be able to come up with for regular posts.

Years passed. My large projects moved forward, and i found myself circling back to the need to have a website which brought me face to face once more with the need to know what sort of a direction my blog would take.

The answer still isn’t ultra clear, but it’s less fuzzy than it was in the past. Thanks in part to a business book i read recently called Start With Why by Simon Sinek.

I had always looked at myself like this. I am an author, i write stories. I focused on what i was creating instead of why i was creating it in much the same way a company starts with what they do instead of why they do it.

So why do i write? I write because i love stories and it is my dream to share some of the stories i have created with the world. No matter what happens with my writing career in the future, be it massive commercial success, perpetual toiling in obscurity, or anything in between, my love of stories will remain constant. And i know there are lots and lots of people out there who also love stories, and dream of sharing them with the world the same way i do. It is that connection i hope to create with this blog. That is my why and it will give this blog purpose. What that looks like in execution is still taking shape, but i am excited to shape it.